Rep. LaMonica McIver indicted by grand jury over incident at Newark ICE detention facility

NEWARK, N.J. (WPVI) -- New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced Tuesday that U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted by a grand jury on federal charges alleging she impeded and interfered with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center last month while Newark's mayor was being arrested after he tried to join a congressional oversight visit at the facility.

Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced the grand jury indictment in a post on X.

McIver, a Democrat, had been charged in a complaint by Habba last month with two assault charges stemming from the May 9 visit to Newark's Delaney Hall - a 1,000-bed, privately owned facility that Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses as a detention center.

McIver disputed the allegations as baseless and defended her presence at the facility as part of her authorized role as a member of Congress.

She released a statement saying in part, "I will not be intimidated. The facts are on our side. I will be entering a plea of not guilty... I look forward to my day in court."

Habba said two of the counts carry a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison. A third has a maximum sentence of one year. She characterized the charges as "forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers."

At the same visit that resulted in McIver's charges, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on a trespassing charge, which was later dropped. Baraka is suing Habba over what he said was a malicious prosecution.

A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence, where other people had been protesting. She and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor. The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point, her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word "Police" on it.

It isn't clear from police bodycam video whether that contact was intentional, incidental or a result of jostling in the chaotic scene.

The complaint says she "slammed" her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him.

New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez had joined McIver at the detention center that day. They and Democrats have criticized the arrest and disputed the charges as well.

By law, members of Congress are authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that spelled out the authority.

McIver, 38, first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District.

She was then elected to a full term in November. A Newark native, she served as the president of the Newark City Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the city's public schools before that.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.